Belongil Disappearing

I have supported Earth conscious action all my life. However the actions of Byron Shire Council in denying rights to protect land that was subdivided for habitation in 1880, and so creating a situation that imperils 150 homes directly and puts the Belongil estuary AND the whole town of Byron Bay at peril is foolishness beyond compare. Please read the attached - if you live in Byron Shire you will be directly affected in many ways.

Like many I have muttered about some of the foolish decisions of our council for years, while also admiring their commitment to local government and the fact they have some record on natural conservation.

But this issue is way too serious to ignore, it is clear that ideology is overwhelming common sense and fairness. I wish to add my support to the movement asking our council to act now and permit protection with a suitable sea wall along the Belongil coastline. The existing approach by our Council is simply wrong.

This decision to fail to protect these properties, and possibly much of the town in time is very wrong. The consequences are very grave, and against the interests of all ratepayers and residents.

ALL. Sea walls have served most of the Mediterranean and much of the European coastline extremely well for thousands of years.

The car Park, and Lennox Head and countless coastal and river towns are protected by rock walls. Having made the decision to permit habitation in this area, we now have an obligation to allow reasonable, proven and safe techniques to protect our amenity - not only for the few along the coastline ( I am not one of these) but for the many who rely on the town and surrounds. Intelligent use of thought-through structures can preserve sand and dunes through designs that work with the natural processes.

Unfortunately sticking our collective heads in the sand is not one of them.

This is BAD policy.

Please change it now .

The costs to our whole community in many ways generated by this stupid policy will far outweigh the costs of intelligently protecting our habitat, which is a prime responsibility of a local government. please pass this on to all Shire residents and any others interested in your network.

The serious neglect of duty of care in our Council is actionable and our administration needs to change from the core.

I am forwarding an email from John Callanan and correspondence and a press release from a friend of his, Ian Evans, on this issue. Christopher Dean

Please login in to participate in the forum.

10-11-2009 12:23:44Markob I came here in 1986, and it was clear then, widely known, that Byron had a planned retreat thing, and that houses in Belongil were meant to be demountable so they could be moved. This was ignored, and in John Vaughan's instance, actually flouted as he had his house moved 20 metres closer to the beach, in around 1990. I think complaints from residents are nonsense. You knew the deal, and other people should not be subsidising your past shortsighted decisions whether financially or by giving up our beach. Many residents have made lots of money from holiday letting, in some case far more than they paid for their homes, so to those all I can see is move on. If I make bad business decision, who bails me out? Same here.

Note: Some posting to this section are moderated by willofthepeopleproject.net. This website reserves the right not to publish any comments posted and if so do not have to provide reasons for doing so. All comments posted and published here are not endorsed by willofthepeopleproject.net.